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Books you’ve tried to read but just can’t get on with them

213 replies

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 28/04/2023 23:15

I know this is subjective but what books have you read or tried to read but just can’t stomach them?

My recent ones are:-

Brother of the More Famous Jack - what a load of pompous affected twaddle! Can’t seem to see how it’s so lauded, got to page 17 and gave up.

Cold Comfort Farm - managed a bit better with this, about 4 chapters in, but still, affected pompous twaddle. Was told it was similar to the adorable I Capture The Castle but it’s not, at all! Gave it to SIL to read as she got I Cspture The Castle for me and she didn’t like it and when I asked DM if she’d read it when she was younger she said exactly the same about it as me.

Oh and if anyone sees K-Ming Chang’s Bestiary and thinks it looks interesting, it isn’t, it’s just weird!

OP posts:
MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 29/04/2023 20:23

would rather gargle vinegar than pick up another Phillipa Gregory novel

I have an enormous book by Norman Davies (over 1,000 pages) which is a panorama of European history from the Ice Age to the Cold War. In it he divides historical novels into three categories - the first he describes as 'the cheap ones pillage the past to provide an exotic backdrop to unrelated fiction' - and I thought immediately of Gregory. And if 'The Other Boleyn Girl' was bad, how the hell 'The Boleyn Inheritance' got published is a mystery.

RampantIvy · 29/04/2023 20:23

Custardbanana · 29/04/2023 20:03

Thursday murder club.

So boring I don't even care who did it.

I didn't care for it, but the second book is so much better.

I loved Where the Crawdads Sing

I got so bored with The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and The Life of Pi.

I didn't finish either of them.

mouse70 · 29/04/2023 20:22

Catch 22, Master and Commander, Wuthering Heights Tried to read them at least 3 times never got into them.

morelippy · 29/04/2023 20:17

VenusInfers · 29/04/2023 20:13

I agree with pp that Where the Crawdads Sing was beyond stupid. Had to finish it for my Book Club, otherwise there would have been some serious flinging.
Love a bit of Dickens and Hillary Mantell, but would rather gargle vinegar than pick up another Phillipa Gregory novel.

I didn't finish it. I completely lost interest. I have a thread in here about being unable to concentrate on books... this was one I tried to get in to but dear me..

way2serious · 29/04/2023 20:17

It’s LOTR for me too! Read The Hobbit easily and enjoyed but LOTR was a different story 😂

listsandbudgets · 29/04/2023 20:15

Twitch45 · 29/04/2023 20:07

Oh, and Wolf Hall!

Finally someone else who didnt like it. I'd started to feel like I was some kind if Wolf Hall hating one in a trillion. My mother is incredulous that I don't like it.. said I'd not given it a chance because Ingave up page 152!!

SarcasticIntrovert · 29/04/2023 20:14

morelippy · 29/04/2023 19:58

Where The Crawdads Sing

Soooo boring

Oh my!!! I loved that book! Although interestingly (or not!) I listened to the audiobook rather than actually reading it. It's rare for me to listen to fiction books but with that one I think that's what really made it for me. I've no intention of watching the film though!

Maireas · 29/04/2023 20:14

I love Wuthering Heights, but it's a strange, Gothic novel. I've no idea why people think it's a romantic story.

VenusInfers · 29/04/2023 20:13

I agree with pp that Where the Crawdads Sing was beyond stupid. Had to finish it for my Book Club, otherwise there would have been some serious flinging.
Love a bit of Dickens and Hillary Mantell, but would rather gargle vinegar than pick up another Phillipa Gregory novel.

VeronicaBeccabunga · 29/04/2023 20:12

Wuthering Heights. I've attempted to read it several times and failed.

FaintlyMacabre · 29/04/2023 20:12

I’ve read the Lord of the Rings several times but I skip all the descriptions/poetry/Tom Bombadil and concentrate on the story.

midsomermurderess · 29/04/2023 20:10

Iloveabaconbutty · 29/04/2023 20:05

It's few years back now but I just couldn't get on with the Harry Potter novels when everybody else in the world seemed to be reading them. I tried a couple of times but I just couldn't get into them at all.

I felt like the odd one out among my family and friends when everyone else was raving about them.

I was the same. I tried the first and figured, well I’m not its demographic. What did I know?

baddecisions11 · 29/04/2023 20:09

Took me years and many attempts to get through fellowship of the ring. I like the movies but dear lord that was a tediously long and boring read!

Maireas · 29/04/2023 20:09

Richard Osman I like. His books, no. Couldn't get through them. Please get a decent editor, Richard.

Chickenkorma64 · 29/04/2023 20:09

Chickenkorma64 · 29/04/2023 20:06

Also if you fancy reading Anna Karenina (I read it and that’s probably a week of my life in total I’ll never get back)
well, anyway my advice is just Google a summary. What a pointless story ( though I did learn about the feudal system in Russia!)

Oops, just remembered there’s an Anna Karenina read along, sorry!

FaintlyMacabre · 29/04/2023 20:08

Wolf Hall. I tried twice.

Cold Comfort Farm is a brilliant parody of a particular type of pompous twaddle.

trulyunruly01 · 29/04/2023 20:07

I expect to get flamed, but any of Richard Osman's books, I just cannot get on with them.
He's a great presenter and has a very clever wit, I should love an evening in the pub with him (and Ingrid, of course) but I cannot get more than a few pages in before abandoning.

VeryQuaintIrene · 29/04/2023 20:07

Shuggie Bain. I've tried about 3 times but I think I'm going to give it to the free library next door.

Twitch45 · 29/04/2023 20:07

Oh, and Wolf Hall!

Twitch45 · 29/04/2023 20:06

The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
Never Never by Colleen Hoover
The Marriage Act by John Marrs

Chickenkorma64 · 29/04/2023 20:06

Also if you fancy reading Anna Karenina (I read it and that’s probably a week of my life in total I’ll never get back)
well, anyway my advice is just Google a summary. What a pointless story ( though I did learn about the feudal system in Russia!)

Iloveabaconbutty · 29/04/2023 20:05

It's few years back now but I just couldn't get on with the Harry Potter novels when everybody else in the world seemed to be reading them. I tried a couple of times but I just couldn't get into them at all.

I felt like the odd one out among my family and friends when everyone else was raving about them.

AgentProvocateur · 29/04/2023 20:05

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin for me, and Lincoln In the Bardo, as someone already mentioned. All others, I have persevered with.

Maireas · 29/04/2023 20:04

I agree about A Tale of Two Cities, I love Dickens, but that's not his best.

RenegadeMrs · 29/04/2023 20:04

Agree with Lord of the Rongs! Love the Hobbit, loved the films of LoTR, can't get on with the books. I hate the structure of them.

Also, Jonathan Stange and Mr Norrell. Despite having enjoyed Piranesi.